J. Doyle
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2008
- Messages
- 8,206
Here in Michigan, our firearm deer season opened yesterday, Nov. 15th. I made a knife for me last year but it made it just past hunting season and someone wanted to buy it. Cash is king, so I sold it. Which left me in need for a hunting knife for this deer season.
This is what I came up with. It's a tad larger than my ideal preferences for a dedicated field dressing knife, but the idea was to make it a little larger to handle a few more camp type chores. I chose 80CrV2 steel for the blade, ground thin for its toughness and edge holding properties and curly koa for the handle. For the rest of the fittings I chose as maintenance free materials as possible.
Last year, I made a guardless hunter. This year I went with a guard....for no other reason than just to do it different this time. I like both.
I killed a decent 7pt buck yesterday morning around 8:15 and shot a nice big doe at 5:00 in the evening. The knife took care of both deer easily with no chips, rolls or flat spots (as I would expect of any quality knife steel) and still shaves hair exactly as it did before I started.
I did forget to take my camera yesterday but I think my dad snapped a few with his phone. I'll check on that. In the mean time, here's the knife.
Specs:
Hand forged from 80CrV2 steel
8 1/2" overall, 4 1/4" blade, .175" thick at the ricasso with full distal taper
Heavily rounded spine and ricasso edge
Rounded, filed thumb grip
Black g-10 guard and collar, double line cut
Stainless steel thorn and vine spacer
Stabilized Koa handle
Stainless checkered finial screw
Any and all comments/discussion welcome.
This is what I came up with. It's a tad larger than my ideal preferences for a dedicated field dressing knife, but the idea was to make it a little larger to handle a few more camp type chores. I chose 80CrV2 steel for the blade, ground thin for its toughness and edge holding properties and curly koa for the handle. For the rest of the fittings I chose as maintenance free materials as possible.
Last year, I made a guardless hunter. This year I went with a guard....for no other reason than just to do it different this time. I like both.
I killed a decent 7pt buck yesterday morning around 8:15 and shot a nice big doe at 5:00 in the evening. The knife took care of both deer easily with no chips, rolls or flat spots (as I would expect of any quality knife steel) and still shaves hair exactly as it did before I started.
I did forget to take my camera yesterday but I think my dad snapped a few with his phone. I'll check on that. In the mean time, here's the knife.
Specs:
Hand forged from 80CrV2 steel
8 1/2" overall, 4 1/4" blade, .175" thick at the ricasso with full distal taper
Heavily rounded spine and ricasso edge
Rounded, filed thumb grip
Black g-10 guard and collar, double line cut
Stainless steel thorn and vine spacer
Stabilized Koa handle
Stainless checkered finial screw
Any and all comments/discussion welcome.
